


Lustre

by grindle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Bonding, Competition, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, POV Multiple, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 02:08:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17235326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grindle/pseuds/grindle
Summary: After an "incident" in which the boys almost kill each other, Allura decides to send them to a faraway planet on a diplomatic mission to sort out their differences. Of course, they've grown up, and years of history and memories are coming to the surface.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this first bit is a tad bit awkward, but it'll get better. (i hope)

One of the first things that Keith noticed on Shi a'Lo was the smell. It was cloying and overly sweet and so overpowering that he noticed the smell before he noticed the trumpets, and noticed the trumpets before he noticed that almost every single Shi a'Loan at the welcome ceremony was waving a flag with Lance's face on it.  
"Hell yeah!" came Lance's voice from ahead. Keith couldn't be sure that it was Lance because his view was blocked. For some reason, the Shi a'Loans had only allocated enough space for one lion to land on the stage, so Keith had to land Red directly behind the stage. It was utter chaos by the time that Keith disembarked. Hordes of people were streaming back in to reclaim the space taken during Keith's landing. Suddenly the red paladin was surrounded on all sides by surprisingly humanoid aliens, all over seven feet tall and pungent with that godforsaken smell. From what he could see, Lance (or at least someone in a gross brown jacket) was standing next to a purple-skinned woman and waving as the woman spoke in a raspy tongue to the thousands of cheering onlookers. Lance was beaming, his face glowing in the light of the four suns, and for a moment, just a moment, the smell and the heat and the pressure of a thousand people pressing on Keith on all sides all but disappeared, leaving just Lance's face. The moment was promptly ruined by two things.  
1\. Lance miraculously found Keith's face in the crowd of thousands (probably because he wasn't purple) and stuck his tongue out as soon as they made eye contact. Keith wanted to gag. Lance's tongue was so long. He looked like a bear that Keith saw once on a school trip to the zoo.   
2\. A massive Shi a'Loan suddenly moved right in front of Keith, and the red paladin got a full view of Lance's face on the back of the t-shirt. He had no idea where they got the picture from. It looked like a selfie.

Keith needed to get out. He hadn't been in such a huge crowd for ages, and the jostling did nothing to alleviate the nauseating smell and blaring music. He pushed his way through the masses of people until he got to what seemed to be a public park, where massive, mushroom-shaped trees swayed gently, despite the lack of wind. Keith tentatively touched one and surmised that, because he still had a finger, it was safe to sit.  
It was a nice day, he decided. And the parade had to end eventually. 

* * *

 

Lance was leaning on the doorframe as Keith passed by. "Oh wow, Keith! I love the 'passed out in a public park' look! Really brings out your eyes!"  
Keith stopped abruptly, turning on his heel to stare at his teammate. "Lance, I hate you as a person." 

" _Ooh la la_ , how romantic."  
Keith had no comeback, so had to settle with a strong glare and dramatic turnaround. Silently, he went into a kneel in front of a throne made entirely of porous rock. "Your highness," he stated dutifully, "I am Keith Ko-"  
"I know."  
To that, Keith had no reply. He looked up from his kneel at the queen, covered entirely by gauzy shawls, and then at Lance, standing beside her. Lance seemed smug. He looked back at the queen.  
"Lance?" she called, "Go take a walk in the gardens."  
Lance smiled as two Shi a'Loans, a male and a female, took his arms, leading him out of the ornate throne room. Keith hesitantly rose from his kneeling position.  
The queen shifted in her porous stone throne and continued.  
"I was not informed that there was a second paladin coming."  
"My apolo-"  
"Had the blue paladin not informed me of your presence my guards wouldn't have known to leave you unharmed when they found you."  
Keith stayed silent.  
"We do not have accommodations for you. Either you leave, or you stay in your companion's quarters. I suggest that you discuss this matter with dear Lance." With that, the queen (or a talking pile of blankets) fell silent, and Keith's vision went black.

 

Suddenly Keith was in the gardens, the air, which had recently been so nice and warm, biting through his thin shirt as he wretched. He was on his hands and knees, feeling like he might as well drown in the puddle of his own vomit, when Lance and the two Shi a'Loans turned the corner of a garden path.  
"Keith that's gross!" Lance exclaimed.  
"Fuck off, Lance!" he snapped, staggering to his feet. He hoped that nobody noticed the him wiping the vomit off his mouth with his shirt. Judging by Lance's incredulous expression, Keith looked just as bad as he felt. He instead looked at Lance's companions. It was his first opportunity to really look at a Shi a'Loan, and he was taken aback. There was a man and a woman, beautiful but uncannily so. Their skin was chalky purple, and both had short, white hair, tightly coiled and coarse. Their eyes were a bit too far set, their cheekbones a bit too smooth. They were also much larger than the humans. Lance, although taller than Keith, measured only at the female's nose. But the most unsettling part was their eyes. Their eyeballs were luminous. He found himself making eye contact with the male one, and, when he blinked, the blue-green glow of his cornea lit through his eyelids, delicate veins in stark contrast.  
'Get your shit together, Kogane', he thought. Keith ignored the bright spots in his vision and stepped forward, holding out a hand for the alien to shake. "Nice to meet you," he muttered, "I'm, uh, Keith Kogane, paladin of the red lion." To his utmost dismay, the gangly alien looked baffled, and glanced back at Lance for instruction. Lance gave an exaggerated shrug, silently mouthing 'no idea'.  
"Um...", said the Shi a'Loan, as he tentatively put out his hand. "My name is Aylis. Nephew. To the queen" Keith felt flushed, suddenly, as he grasped Aylis' six-fingered hand. They both looked equally confused about how to proceed in the interaction.  
"I'm Asel," called the female, from her spot beside Lance. "Shi a'Na's niece." She was taller, with darker skin and larger ears.  
"Uh, nice to meet you. Both of you, I mean. Can I speak to Lance for just a moment? Alone?" The duo dutifully ducked inside the castle entrance, back into the warmth and light.  
"Lance, that queen-"  
"Shi a'Na"  
"Whatever- she hates me. She says I either have to leave or stay with you, because they don't have space for me."  
"...and if you leave, Allura will kick your ass..." Lance whistled, a smile spreading across his face. Keith couldn't help but notice the whiteness of his teeth. God, he hoped Lance would help him out.  
"Yeah, okay, you can stay."  
"Really?" Keith couldn't believe it. "Seriously?"  
"Well, yeah. I'm not gonna let you get sent to Axa 212."  
"Thanks." Keith was smiling widely. "Really."  
They fell into a silence, and Keith was suddenly very aware of the cold. (And the acrid taste of bile in his mouth.)  
"Are you done?" called Asel. "Your room is ready, and we've collected your things." The boys looked at each other.  
"Keith, seriously, though, I call dibs on both of them."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith is unceremoniously outed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for it being so, so, so short!

"Keith?"  
Keith rolled over to face Lance, but it was hard, as he was weighted down by possibly a million blankets. "What's up?"  
"Are you awake?"  
"Yeah..."  
"Me too," Lance sighed. Keith could barely make out the shape of Lance's face in the gloom.   
"Why was everyone wearing Lance t-shirts earlier?"  
"Because I'm cute, dumbass."  
Keith was very aware of that. He changed the subject. "Can you smell them?"  
"No. They smell nice. And look nice. Doesn't matter. Are you gay?"  
Instantly Keith was on high alert, snapping out of his dozing fog.   
"Wha- uh," he stammered. His face felt hot. "how, uh, how did you know? Did Shiro tell you?"  
Even in the dark Keith could see Lance's grin. "You like, almost died when you met Aylis. He thinks you're a freak. You were really weird earlier."  
No thanks to you, he wanted to say, but found himself mute.  
"I mean, I'm not weird about it. I'm bi. So yeah, I'm gonna get that sweet alien ass. Sorry." In typical Lance fashion, he then turned over, leaving Keith to sit, dumbfounded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sweet shi a'loan ass? or sweet galra ass?

**Author's Note:**

> eviscerate me :))


End file.
